This is something I've been thinking on lately. Do conservation programs like CRP actually hurt conservation efforts? Agriculture land prices are being driven higher and higher to the point every tree line, swampy area or even entire forest are cleared for more acres, meanwhile federal and state govts are paying people to not farm land that is already cleared and tillable.

Are these programs doing more harm than good long term?

Hmm interesting thought experiment.

$5 corn is a trees worst enemy imo. Doesn’t matter how much ground some farmers/company’s have. Some will do anything to get one more pass with the planter.

When I see them tearing out a shelter belt I wanna stop and say “You know somebody’s grandpa planted those, and grandma most likely pumped water into a metal bucket and watered them all by hand.”

Most conservation managers have college education but no common knowledge or experience. We have thousands of acres of WMA but still no pheasant or quail.

Too many bush hogs & not enough drip torches.

Too many predators and not enough trappers. If todays’s fish and game departments are unable to manage a species through restrictions and regulations, then that species is out of luck. Big game management is often able to be managed by regulation and restriction. Small game - not so much.

I say the programs do more good than harm, especially in highly erodible areas. With the cost of land, rent, taxes, machinery, seed, fertilizer, insurance, and then playing the lottery with Mother Nature, you need to utilize ever inch of ground. If these areas are better protected for the environment, they should be permanent easements that are well paid for. What good does it do to take highly erodible land out of production for 10 years, then plow it right back up?

Well said Gary. I told Greg Wagner NG&P manages their checkbook, not the game and fish. If they can’t come up with good ideas on their own, they should just copy SD! LOL

we are in a change economy with programs working against each other often
is CRP bad , no

but look at this example 2 farms a few miles from each other

one farm program was paying a dairy farmer to get out of dairy to raise the price of milk , so he had to send his herd to slaughter and scrap all his milking lines

at the same time a few miles away a new guy was getting funds to start dairy farming as it brought new people into agriculture he had to buy all new milking equipment and build a herd from buying from other paces.

lots of money changed hands , lots of equipment and animals went to waste but it boosts the economy , sort of

"One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results", (Milton Friedman)

So true.

You are CORRECT^^^^^. Especially here in the South.

Been noticing a lot more slashing and burning going on in the last 20 years out here and in my travels I have not seen much CRP going on during that same time. The rules are so lax with CRP it does not need to be much of an issue before emergency cutting is allowed that seems counter productive to me.

This winter I will be able to drive for miles and not see a blade of grass sticking out of the snow in the majority of sections in my county. Unless there’s a natural barrier to stop equipment from working the ground most of its being planted. Still some guys around that plant for wildlife but they are rare the farming here has gone from fence post to fence post more and more. The days of potholes being left alone are gone protecting them is not enforced now the buffer along a fence line is no longer a practice today.

No habitat no critters it’s not just one thing it’s everything now.

I notice that more and more in SD lately too LD. Seems like on dry years they disc cattail slews until they are gone or the disc hits mud.

My guess is SD has seen their glory days of pheasant hunting gone by already. The center of corn production is moving west and north. Soon it will be the corner of Iowa, Minnesota, SD as the center of production if it isn't already.

seems a shame we waste most of that corn putting it in a gas tank

if we didn't burn it we wouldn't have any shortage of it for human or animal feed

around here, decent farmland is being converted to "solar farms"...nothing "sustainable" about THAT!

so far they started with al the fields that flood in a wet spring here.

3-4 inches of water won't matter a few weeks of the year with all the panels 4-5 feet off the ground

make for a every good ground.

they have the entire thing fenced 10 feet high if they could graze sheep in there it could be sustainable wool and muton

Good conservation practices the life blood of not just the wildlife that benefit from them They are also designed to protect water quality soil erosion from both wind and water .A place that is so barren that it will not support wildlife will also become a problem for good crop production The thing I keep thinking is the conservation measure where put there for a reason That reason still exists but the current generation has lost sight of why the methods used to maintain the land are no longer on the minds f the people changing the landscape with the idea more money will come with removing what had been added decades before We keep needing to re;earn what had to be learned years ago If you try to farm a swamp it wil l result i a failure at some point No conservation is not the reason for the problem Greed and not using basic common sense is why we continue to try to-do what nature is not designed to do Will we ever learn ??

Conservation doesn't mean conservation like we were taught 20+ years ago

Subsidized farming practices don’t help either. With the government dolling out $ the way they do, it only incentivizes the big boys to gobble up as much as they can, regardless if it is productive farm land, knowing they will be ok in the end. The days of utilizing the fertile ground only are past it seems.. I don’t blame the farmer, just our crazy government…. When our government is involved, no matter what, they mess things up…